Today we begin our annual
tour through Apocalyptic literature. Both Daniel and Mark describe the end
times, the final reckoning time when the Lord God and His Son Jesus will
triumph over sin and death. The apocalyptic writings are charged with
poetry, metaphor, fantasy.

We must not make the mistake some of the
fundamentalists do and interpret these passages literally. However, we must
not make the opposite mistake of dismissing them as “nothing but” poetry.
Metaphor tells us truth more fully and more adequately than does plain
prose. The truth is Heaven and Earth may indeed pass away, but not before
the Final Resolution in which good triumphs over evil an life over death. We
don’t know when or how that will happen. Those issues really don’t matter.
What does matter is that Jesus and his true followers will finally win.

Fr. Greeley's Last Book:

Story:

Once upon a time a TV
commentator (on PBS) delivered a pessimistic editorial on a Friday evening
broadcast (taped earlier in the day). The world was in grim shape, he told
the camera. Global warming was worse than anyone had thought it was. The
population of the world would double again in the next twenty year. It was
likely that an asteroid would hit earth before the end of the next century.
Rage was increasing the third world countries against our wealth.

The races
were polarizing in America. The crime had turned up again. Our schools were
total failures and would not, could not get any better. There was a drug and
alcohol epidemic in white suburban high schools. Divorce rates were
increasing. Abortions were at an all time high. A wave of bad news was
sweeping the earth and thee was nothing anyone could do about it.

When the
taping was over, he got into his Mercedes and drove rapidly into the country
to escape the Friday night traffic rush. At his house on the shore of the
lake, he relaxed in the sauna, sipping from a large glass of Barolo wine,
swam in the pool, wrapped himself in a robe, and sat on the deck as the sun
set. He poured himself a second glass of wine and, as the sky turned red and
then purple that life was very good indeed.

5 The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; thou
holdest my lot.
8 I keep the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall
not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also dwells
secure.
10 For thou dost not give me up to Sheol, or let thy godly one see the Pit.
11 Thou dost show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fullness of
joy, in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.